The Pendant
by thejedistarfiregrayson
Summary: Jump City is tearing itself apart and Robin is on the fringe of light and dark. With the help of one special friend can he set himself on the right path?...RobStar
1. Chapter 1

Hi there,

On a recent trip to the plot bunny farm I was bitten by a plot bunny and contracted Plot Bunny Syndrome. Since then I have had way too many story ideas and too few ideas for stories I was already working on. This story will help me get some of the Plot Bunny Poison out of my veins because it combines about 5 ideas that kept pestering me to get on paper. Worry not; while I am writing this I will still update my other stories. I just really need this story to help me get back on track. Plus I think you will really like it.

Note: Later chapters will contain spoilers to the movie 'Batman Begins' which is very good by the way, go see it.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, if I did plot bunny syndrome would be a good thing, not a nuisance**

**On with the show….**

**The Pendant**

**Intro**

Circuses are usually very happy places. Circuses are great places to see exotic animals and awe worthy stunts. Circuses are great places for popcorn and cotton candy and other delectable treats. And most of all, Circuses are usually great places to see young children smile. To see them laugh and cheer. Most Children love the circus. Most.

But not Richard Grayson.

Blood laced the floor of the center ring. Popcorn lay a strew. The animals had run off or had been caged. Cotton candy lay everywhere, lacing the ground like the clouds lace the sky. Everyone had gone home. Rodger the candy vender had gone home. Mike the janitor had gone home. Lulu the amazing bearded woman had gone home. Even BoBo the clown had gone home.

Everyone but Richard Grayson.

Blood laced the trapeze. There was blood on the corners of Richard's adorable acrobat uniform. The big G that had stood for The Flying Graysons had ripped off. The green shoes had blood on every inch. The sleeves on the red shirt had fallen off and burned up. Richard could have cared less. He was trapped behind a fallen pillar. It would have been no great obstacle for someone, say, 2 feet taller. Richard was 3 foot 4 inches. Richard was 4 years old. Richard had had two loving parents who did everything they could to be sure their little Richard was having a good life. And now the little boy with dark hair, pale skin, and bright blue eyes was an orphan. Tears streamed down from his eyes as he kicked at the pillar.

Struck with an idea Richard grabbed at a dangling cable hanging from the burnt ceiling of Haley's Circus. He swung over the pillar and ran to the center of the ring, to the two bodies that lay motionless in the middle of the floor.

"Mommy, Daddy" He said, shaking them. They were gone. Richard knew.

He found the patches off of his parent's uniforms; the big Gs. Richard slipped them in the almost completely burned pocket on his green pants. He then reached for the Robin shaped pendant that lay around his neck. It had been his birthday present.

It read: "To our dearest Richard, you will always be our Robin. May you always be happy, whatever happens.

Love,

Mom and Dad"

Tears formed in Richards's eyes as he clutched tightly to his pendant.

Sometime a few minutes later a young Billionaire named Bruce Wayne picked Richard up at the circus and became his guardian.

Richard wore the pendant every day until he lost it while packing his things to live in Titan's tower.

It didn't matter. He never listened to the Pendant's inscription anyhow.

The R was a G.

Richard was no longer a Grayson. He was just Robin. But not the Robin his parents had always wished for him to be.

That's why when Starfire had made an innocent suggestion to go to the circus nearby Robin had yelled at her.

That's why when Starfire found the Robin pendant in a pile of boxes from the first day they all had moved in to Titan's tower she had wrapped it in a piece of tissue paper and left it by his bedroom door.

And so it begins.

To be continued….

**By the way I love reviews, hint hint…..**


	2. I: Why we fall

Hi there,

Thanks for all the reviews, I love reviews, did I ever mention that?

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans…. or do I? No, I don't.

Italicsflashbacks

On with the show…

**The Pendant**

**Chapter I: Why we fall**

_Richard was a quiet 6-year-old boy. When he wasn't sparring in the gym he was reading or studying. That's why today was so different. Today he was playing with Jane, the gardener's daughter. They ran around the huge backyard of Wayne Manor, finding rocks and throwing them back onto the ground._

"_Look Richard, look what I found!" Jane exclaimed, holding up a shiny purple rock_

"_Cool! Let me have it!" Richard exclaimed_

"_Finders keepers!" Jane said, running _

"_But you found it in my backyard!" Richard exclaimed, chasing after her. In a matter of seconds he was running on top of a large hole that was boarded up with rickety, rotted wood. In a matter of seconds he fell in to the hole._

"_Jane, help!" Richard screamed_

"_I'll go get Alfred, hold on," Jane said, running off towards the mansion._

_In a matter of minutes Alfred was scaling the sides of the ditch, hanging on to a piece of rope held by the house chef. The butler grabbed Richard and pulled him out of the whole and set him down on the grass._

"_Now Master Richard, why do we fall?" Alfred asked_

"_Because of gravity" Richard stated, thinking it was a question of scientific matters_

"_No Master Richard. We fall to learn to pick ourselves up"…_

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

16-year-old Robin had done the worst thing in his whole young life. He had yelled at Starfire. It wasn't just the matter of yelling at a teammate. He did that a lot, mainly to Beastboy. No, Starfire wasn't just a teammate. She was his best friend.

It was a windy day in Jump City. It was pretty late. It would probably rain too. Still, Robin had felt like taking a walk. He walked through town square, past the pizza shop and the video store.

Posted to the side of a Deli was a poster for Haley's circus coming to town. Robin ripped it down and threw it into the trash

" Stupid safety hazard," He cursed

Deep inside Robin knew it wasn't. Deep inside Robin knew that it was a perfectly safe and fun place and that his parent's death was caused by a psychotic man who made his decisions based on the flip of a coin, not the clowns or performers. Or acrobats.

Robin walked home. He walked up the steps of Titans tower to his room on one of the top levels. At the door was something he'd thought he'd never see again.

The pendant.

It had been missing for nearly 3 years. Robin picked up the pendant and felt the shape of a Robin in the middle in his hand. There was a note attached to the silver chain. It read:

Dearest Robin,

I am sorry I upset you. I found this and thought it may be yours.

Starfire.

Things like the Pendant weren't just found. Robin knew for a fact that the pendant had fell into a box of some of Beastboy and Cyborg's useless crap. Robin had looked and looked but the box was huge and it had been no use.

Starfire didn't find the pendant. She had searched for it. It had probably taken her hours to find. Robin had mentioned the pendant before and Starfire must have gone looking for it.

"I don't deserve a friend like her," Robin whispered to himself as he slipped the Pendant into a box of things from his past in his room. He then slipped into bed and fell sound asleep.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

_8-year-old Richard ran down the halls of Wayne Manor, pulling Jane with him._

"_Let's find rooms we haven't seen," he said_

"_In this huge place? There'll be millions!" Jane exclaimed_

"_There" Richard said, pointing to a brown door with scorch marks on it "I've never been in this one before"_

"_That's 'cause you're not aloud, dummy," Jane said_

"_Too bad" Richard said, opening the door._

_Inside were piles of burned books and fabrics, toys and gadgets._

"_What are you doing in this room?" Bruce asked, coming up from behind_

"_Exploring" Richard, replied, picking up a burnt book as the remains tumbled to the floor_

_"There was a fire here a while ago. We had to rebuild the entire mansion. We decided to leave this one room filled with the memories of the things we lost" Bruce replied_

"_Why was there a fire?" Jane asked_

"_The whole city was on fire" Bruce replied_

"_Why?" Richard asked_

"_Because someone named Raz 'Al Ghoul thought the city needed it," Bruce said with a frown "And maybe, in a sense, he was right"_

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To be continued…

**Did I ever mention that I love reviews?**


	3. II:Spring cleaning

Hi guys, sorry that chapter took long. It's a really long chapter and I rewrote most of it, that's the reason why. Enjoy and thanks for the reviews! 

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Who knew?

On with the show…

**The Pendant**

** Chapter II: A bit of spring-cleaning**

"Richard! Come here!" Jane yelled from the kitchen 

_9-year-old Richard ran as fast as his little legs could take him, which considering he fought crime and trained all day was pretty darn fast._

"_What is it?" Richard asked, rounding the corner into the large kitchen_

"_It came in the mail today. It's a coupon to Haley's circus! It's in town tomorrow! Maybe we can go, I've always wanted to see a circus!" Jane exclaimed_

_Richard's face went blank. He could almost feel the explosion in the circus tent knock him down. He could almost see Two-face pulling the trigger of his machine gun and letting it go wild on the acrobats. He could almost see his parents fall. He could almost taste the blood that had laced the air that night, that horrible night in September._

"_Are you there Richard?" Jane asked, waving a hand in front of his face_

_Richard grabbed the advertisement and crumpled it and shoved it into the trash compacter._

_He ran upstairs. _

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Starfire couldn't sleep. She knew Robin could be very stubborn. What boy wasn't? Still, why had he snapped at her? That she wanted to know. He had yelled. He had yelled really, really loud. It had crushed her. They were best friends, and although either failed to admit it they were more. It was more than a crush it was like…undiscovered love.

Earlier she had spent 5 hours finding something that he had said before was his prized possession. His Robin pendant. She had dove into boxes of Beastboy and Cyborg's junk. She had gone through piles of rotten banana peels and spare parts. She had found it and polished it and left it at his door wrapped in red and yellow tissue paper with a note in her best handwriting.

She glanced at her Mumbo Jumbo alarm clock. It was 2 A.M

" I suppose I should be getting some sleep," She said to herself with a yawn. She pulled the covers over her and fell fast asleep.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

"I have come to you, my faithful followers, to tell you of our new objective. You thought Gotham City was bad, my friends? Well, there's worse. Jump city needs to be destroyed. Constantly villains attack it, and who is there to protect it? TEENAGERS! When they defeat a villain you can't even offer them a drink, they're not old enough!" There was laughter among the crowd "If there is any city that needs a kick where it counts it's Jump City. The streets are a shambles. The people who protect the city are kids. The buildings are crumbling bit by bit. If the Teen Titans are our tomorrow I am very scared. It's time to treat them like we treated Gotham." With this the speaker flashed an evil grin and picked up a burlap mask.

"We burn it to the ground"

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

_Richard hated bedtime. He liked to run on his own watch, not have some butler tell him to go to bed at 8 PM. He was 7,after all, not a baby. So the boy took it upon himself to entertain himself until he got tired. The only problem was when Alfred shut the door it locked. After many weeks off fiddling with a screwdriver Jane had found for him he had finally undone 50 rusted nails that had held a huge ventilation shaft door onto his bedroom ceiling. Climbing through the ventilation shafts the boy finally found himself on top of a shaft right above the parlor._

"_I don't know Bruce"_

"_Of course you do, you just don't want to tell me"_

"_It's not really my line of work but…I'd say the boy is a serious whack job"_

"_Whack job? That a technical term?"_

_The woman rolled her eyes "Not this again. Alright patient suffers from serious post traumatic where he becomes sullen and often agitated leading to the point where he will fall into flashbacks and shut the rest of the world out possibly causing harm to himself and others"_

"_So you're saying Richard is a total whack job"_

Richard knew this woman. It was Bruce's girlfriend, Chase. "Well Chase, I don't think he is" 

"_I'm sure he's not I just think it's a bad idea to take him on your super hero runs with you"_

"_On the contraire. I think it'll help him. You'll see, he'll be a happy, normal kid in no time"_

RRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

BEEP

Robin shot out of bed, woken yet again by the sound of the titan's trouble alert system. He ran some gel through his hair and strapped on his utility belt, then dashed down the steps. In a second the other 4 titans arrived. Beastboy was basically still asleep. Raven had a huge frown on her face, obviously discontent with having been woken at 3 AM. Cyborg, of course, always looked awake. Then there was Starfire. She had her happy, beautiful smile on as always. Though you could see she was tired she still managed to be happy. Robin forced himself to stop staring at her and turned the screen on.

"Hi there" it was Bruce

Robin frowned "couldn't whatever you have to say wait until, I don't know, after dawn?"

Bruce smiled slightly "Not really. A report says that a large amount of fear inducing gas has been stolen from the nearest Wayne Enterprises building and was taken to a location approximately 50 miles outside of Jump city. The same fear inducing gas was used on the attack on Gotham nearly 30 years ago"

"Who's behind this?" Robin asked

"I'm guessing it's the league of Shadows. I'll get back to you when I have more evidence"

Robin nodded "Thanks Bruce. We'll keep in touch."

The monitor flicked off.

"What shall we do?" Starfire asked

"We should all go back to bed. With such little evidence we really can't do anything" Robin answered in a way that sounded like Starfire's question was utterly ridiculous

"Well, night y'all" Cyborg said, heading back upstairs and dragging a sound asleep Beastboy behind him. Raven rolled here eyes and walked back upstairs. Starfire stayed and for some reason, Robin did too.

"I am sorry I made you angry earlier Robin. I'm not sure what I did, but whatever I did I am truly sorry," Starfire said

Robin didn't know what to say. It should've been him doing all the apologizing. He was too tired to say anything. He just shook his head and walked upstairs.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

Robin couldn't sleep. Finally he cast the covers aside and decided to do a little bit of spring-cleaning, though it wasn't spring and he hated cleaning with a fiery passion. A box caught his eye in the corner. It was some of his every day clothes that he had forgotten to unpack two years ago. He started taking the clothing out of the box and putting them into drawers. It went on for a few minutes until he was almost at the bottom of the box and something caught his eye. It was shiny and it was sticking out of the pocket of a pair of jeans.

Bruce's old handgun.

RRRRRRRRRRRR 

"Now Richard, what I'm about to give you is only for emergency's. Ever since the manor was invaded last night I think you need some form of protection when you're Richard, not Robin" Bruce said pulling something out of his pocket

"A gun" Richard said rubbing his hand on the shiny mettle and pulling the bullet holder open. Fully loaded "wow"

"Keep that on lock, you hear me?"

"Yes sir"

**RRRRRRRRRRRRRR**

"NO Bruce, I think it's a HORRIBLE idea!" Chase exclaimed

"Why is that?"

"He isn't entirely emotionally stable. You give him a gun and he'll think he's free to shoot anyone-especially anyone tied to the death of his parents in any way, shape, or form"

"Just trust me. You don't give the boy enough credit"…

**To be continued…**

**My birthday is next week. A review would be a lovely present (hint hint)… **


	4. III:Beware

Hello there and thank you for the reviews! Oh and also at the end of the last chapter some parts were supposed to be in italics for flashbacks but didn't turn out that way when I posted 'em, so it might have been a bit confusing. My apologies.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans however if the real owners were to give it to me as a birthday present I wouldn't say no…

On with the show…

**The Pendant**

**Chapter III: Beware**

Surprisingly this morning Starfire was not woken up by the sound of the titans alarm or the distant sound of two immature teenagers fighting over what type waffles should be served at breakfast. No, today it was the good old sound of her communicator's You-Have-Had-A-Message-For-3-Days-and-havn't-picked-it-up buzzer. She sighed and got out of bed. She flipped the communicator on and checked her message. It wasn't from the Titans; no it was a personal message. She let it play and then sighed.

"Robin is going to be very angry"

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

Starfire walked down the halls of the immense tower and down 3 flights of steps. Right in front of the main room she luckily ran into just who she was looking for.

"Robin! Good morning!" Starfire exclaimed

"Morning Star" Robin said as he reached for the button to open the main room's door.

"No wait! I must speak to you for a minute" Starfire said, throwing herself in front of the button

"Okay Star, shoot"

"Shoot? I do not believe I wish to shoot anyone Robin…"

"No Star, it's a saying. It just means: go ahead and tell me"

"Oh. Well you see I have very important business to attend to on Tameran and I was wondering if I have permission to go there for a few days"

"Are you kidding me? You heard Bruce last night-someone wants to destroy the city! You can't just leave now!" Robin shouted

"But Robin, it's only for a few days! I really must-"

"No Star, we have to protect the city"

"I am quite aware of this Robin. Though you may think so I am not stupid. I understand my duties. What I have to do on Tameran is very important to me and if you cannot understand that then the Robin I knew has truly changed. For the worse" With that Starfire flew down the hall in the opposite direction

"Where are you going?" Robin shouted

"I think I'll surprise Galfore and leave now for Tameran. Goodbye Robin"

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR "Kori?" Starfire's little brother Ryand'r tugged on the edge of her skirt 

"_What is it Ryan?" Starfire asked as she gazed off into the tamerainien sunset_

"_What's gonna happen to us now?" Ryan asked, brushing one of his long red bangs out of his eye_

_Starfire bent down so she was eye to eye with her 5-year-old brother "Things are going to be very different now that mother and father are…gone. You will be going to a private school on the outskirts of the city. I'm going to a planet called earth to fight crime with teenagers my age"_

"_When will I see you again Kori?" He asked_

"_I do not know my little brother, but I will miss you very much" She said wrapping her arms around him in a hug. Ryan sniffled_

"_I-I'll miss you too Kori"_

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

_It was raining very hard that day in Gotham city. Richard didn't care._

"_Time to go Richard" Bruce said, putting a hand on the 4-year-old shoulder_

_Richard walked up to his parent's grave and whispered something and then bolted back to the warm car. Bruce got in the seat next to Richard and handed him a towel to wipe his soaking hair._

"_What'll happen to me now Bruce?" Richard asked_

_Bruce smiled "you're going to live with me. I'm going to raise you like you were my son. In fact I have the adoption papers on my desk waiting to be filled out"_

_Richard shook his head "I don't want to be adopted. They may be dead but they're still my parents"_

"_Alright. You'll be my ward then. How's that?"_

_Richard smiled "good"_

"_And how does a cup of hot cocoa and ice cream sound?"_

_Richard beamed "Great!"_

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

"Tofu-fruity's we. Love. You!" Beastboy sang the annoying jingle almost as loud as humanly possible as he poured some of his new favorite cereal into a bowl

"Meat meat meat, meat meat meat, Mad Mike's Meaty O's can't be beat!" Cyborg sang as loud (if not louder)

Raven snapped her book shut "If you don't stop singing those ridiculous jingles I will make it so you can't eat anything, let alone your precious cereal, without the help of a tube"

"Uh, heh…did I mention you look great today Raven?" Beastboy said

"Um yeah, blue is really your color!" Cyborg added

In a few minutes Robin came through the door, a frown in as always.

"Hey dude have you seen Star today?" Cyborg asked as he chewed his meaty cereal

"Yeah man, we haven't seen her anywhere" Beastboy said, mouth equally full

"She went to Tameran for something" Robin grumbled as he pulled out his box of disgusting bran cereal "hey, who used all the milk?"

"Tofu-boy here shoved it done the toilet," Cyborg grumbled

"We still have soy milk left!" Beastboy said with a smile as big as a rainbow

Robin rolled his eyes "I'll go buy some more good old cow milk, thanks"

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

Robin walked into the grocery store and found his way to the dairy section where he picked out two cartons of milk and a Beastboy-proof lock for the refrigerator in an aisle nearby. He bought the 3 items and headed out of the store. He decided to take the long route home, walking through the main square. He stopped to look up at the big screen TV that currently had news blaring throughout the square.

"And tonight the ruthless criminal Two-Face has been spotted in downtown Metropolis…" The newscaster spoke the words Robin cringed to hear.

Robin put his finger on the gun he had in his pocket ready to sell to the used weapons store.

"I better sell this really quickly," Robin said, racing off.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

Black as night the ninja crept with superior stealth. In a dark alleyway the soldier left the warning message Ras has told him to leave. With a gallon of lighter fluid he spelled the words out. He then took a match, threw it on the liquid, and ran off into the night, leaving the message that would drive fear into the hearts of the citizens of Gotham.

**_BEWARE OF WHAT LIES IN THE SHADOWS._**

_**To be continued…**_

Since the chance of me getting the Teen Titan company for my birthday is very slim a review would be just as good (my birthday is tomorrow, Thursday! Kudos to whoever guesses how old I'm gonna be)… 


	5. IV:unwelcomes

Hello all. Thank you for all the reviews! Not any action, really, in this chapter…

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans however this is made up for by the fact that I will soon own a copy of the latest Star Wars book, which comes out tomorrow! Ben Skywalker better get a speaking part or I will scream! Ehem, on with the show….

On with the show….

**_The Pendant_**

_**IV: un-happy welcomes**_

Robin sat on his bed, staring at the ceiling. It was late and he knew he needed sleep. All he could do was think about Starfire.

Sighing, he pulled the Pendant out of his pocket and stared at it.

"Well mom and dad, am I the Robin you wanted me to be?" He asked into the air

There was no answer, of course.

The emergency alarm went off.

On the way, without realizing it, the Pendant slipped out of Robin's pocket.

It lay somewhere in the halls of Titans tower.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

Starfire sighed and leaned over the balcony of her bedroom's terrace. For once in a long time she was dressed completely in black. The whole royal family was.

"Kori" Ryan asked stepping forward "are you okay?"

Starfire smiled "Of course Ryand'r"

"Good" he smiled "I made you something" he pulled a beautiful necklace out of his pocket and gave it to her. It was a silver chain with a purple star-shaped gem hanging in the middle.

"Oh Ryan, it's beautiful!" She exclaimed, putting it on

"Thanks. In science class we learned how to extract silver ore from the ground and in glass shop he learned how to shape gems from a special glass that grows itself on Centauri –5" He said proudly

Starfire bent down and hugged her little brother "I missed you Ryan"

"I missed you too Kori. Are you gonna stay here?" He asked

Starfire shook her head "No I am sorry. I must keep with my team on earth"

"Oh. Okay"

Starfire looked at her extremely cute 7-year-old brother and smiled "Come Ryan, the ceremony is going to start"

"Is Blackfire coming?" Ryan asked

Starfire giggled "X'hal no"

"Oh. I wrote her a letter. Where should I send it?"

Starfire giggled "to the jail on Centauri prime"

Ryan's face went blank, then he smiled "mega cool!"

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

Starfire flew into the orbit of earth and then slowly flew done so she could she the tops of the buildings in Jump City. Something caught the edge of her eye. Half-fast alley was burnt to a crisp.

Half-fast alley was a small, dirty looking alley if you didn't know where to look but behind a trashcan there was a panel leading to a door. If you knew the codeword at the door you had access to the hottest nightclub in all of Jump City. Still, it was no great loss. A strobe light probably caught the place on fire. Everything else in the city looked perfectly normal.

She flew down to Titans tower and opened the door. Robin was there to greet her, a scowl on his face. Some welcome wagon.

"Hello friend Robin, I hope all was well during my absence" Starfire said with a smile

"Not exactly. We could have really used you here" Robin said, glaring

"It seemed like the city was perfectly intact besides a slightly burned nightclub…"

"Are you kidding me? THE CITY ALMOST BURNED TO THE GROUND! All of half-fast alley burned to a crisp leaving almost 15 people out of a job," Robin looked at the new necklace dangling around her neck "visiting your gift bearing sister again?" he mocked

"Actually Robin, my little brother made it for me" Starfire replied, trying to keep calm

"Little brother? Where were you, a family reunion? Is that what was so important you had to leave us short a member during a crisis time?"

This time, Starfire couldn't hold back the tears "My parents died two years ago yesterday. There was a special memoriam ceremony for them. I am sorry that is so unimportant to you Robin!" She fumed, storming, or rather flying, off.

Beastboy had been watching the whole time.

"Not cool man," Beastboy said, shaking his head

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

Starfire sat down on her bed and glared at a picture of her and Robin.

"Some best friend he turned out to be" she muttered. She lay down on her back and looked at the necklace Ryan had made for her. She turned it over on it's back and saw some writing that she hadn't noticed before:

"Love comes to those who guide it through it's darkest hours"- Ancient Centauri proverb 

She smiled at the ceiling. It must have been part of the assignment to write some wisdom on the back. It turned out to be very helpful wisdom.

"Thank you little brother," she whispered into the air

The blaring of the emergency alarm interrupted her thoughts…

_**To be continued….**_

**Fact: thejedistarfiregrayson happens to love reviews…**


	6. V:burnt

Hello all, and thank you for the reviews. Sorry it took so long for an update, I was on vacation, and then had many a computer trouble. Have fun with the new chapter….

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, although I do own my nifty Robin bobble head that says something when you push a button. And a Robin plushie. And 3 Robin action figures…and…

On with the show….

**_The Pendant_**

_**Chapter V: When you play with fire, someone may get burnt **_

Starfire couldn't believe her eyes. The pizza place in Town Square was burning.

"Dude" Beastboy said, eye twitching "NO ONE messes with the pizza"

"I second that" Cyborg said, sonic cannon ready to go

"And I vote that we just stop the fire before it spreads to town hall. Titans Go!" Robin barked as flames crackled around the Titans.

Beastboy flew toward the nearest fire hydrant. Resisting the urge he had that came from having some dog blood in his tangled DNA he opened the nozzle and drank some, promptly turning into elephant form. He squirted flames that circled around the entranceway to the pizza place and watched the dancing flames die down.

Raven used her dark aura and surrounded the flickering flames that covered the top deck of the beloved pizza place. She used her powers to squeeze the flames until the ceased on the top deck.

Robin and Cyborg were working together on extinguishing the flames that had worked themselves inside of the restaurant. Robin used his freeze disks to freeze gobs of the flames and Cyborg attached his sonic cannon to the sink hose, blasting out the remaining flames that had resisted Robin's freeze disks.

Starfire did nothing. Starfire couldn't move. All she could do was watch the flickering flames…

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

_Tameran was under attack. The barbarians from the planet Goush'rr were ruthlessly attacking the Palace. They were in no way advanced._

_So how did they attack one of the more advanced civilizations?_

_The killed without mercy. They felt no pain when they killed a foe. So they kept killing while the Tamerainiens watched in horror._

_The Palace was burning and the royal children of Tameran were trapped behind a smoldering piece of fallen wallboard._

"_Kori, Blackfire, are we gonna die?" Ryan asked, tears rolling down his cheeks_

_Blackfire wiped a tear from her own eye. She usually cried for no one, not even herself "I…I…"_

"_No Ryan, if we just believe we will live" Starfire said, looking the flames straight on_

"_Starfire I know you are trying to keep Ryan's hopes up but we're surrounded by flames. And even if we get past the flames there's a whole slew of those barbarians that would love our heads on a silver platter" Blackfire said_

_Ryan broke into a fit of tears._

"_Shh Ryand'r, do not cry little one" Starfire said, holding the small boy in her arms_

"_Yeah kid. C'mon kiddies, your big sister is going to show you how to bust out of this mess," Blackfire boasted_

"_We will work together" Starfire insisted_

"_Fine, but don't you kiddies start crying if the plan fails," Blackfire said "Now hand me the pipsqueak"_

"_No I want to stay with Kori!" Ryan insisted_

"_Fine. But I am the stronger one"_

"_You are just as strong as a Zornian muck Beatle!" Starfire shouted "But this is not the time for the sisterly bickering that we often partake in. There is a hole in the flames over there. If we get past there…"_

"_We wind up behind those barbarian freaks and right near an exit way. I saw the same thing. Let's go"_

_And so Starfire and Blackfire flew above the flames, Ryan in Starfire's arms. Smoke was heavy in the air and it was hard to breathe._

_One flaw in the plan: The barbarians saw._

_And when the royal children landed the barbarians hiding amidst the flames caught them off guard._

_Ryan and Blackfire were knocked into a wall that was not on fire. Starfire, while not being punched as hard, spun back and tripped, her upper arm catching on the flame. Flames closed in all around her, trapping her in a 3 feet prison of flames. Through the flames she saw her parents struggling against the barbarians._

"_GO!" they shouted, distracting the barbarians from their children's escape_

_Blackfire and Ryan ran, and Starfire flew over the flame barrier and out of the castle._

_The funeral for the King and Queen of Tameran was held the following day._

_**RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**_

"Starfire, WHAT HAPPENED BACK THERE?" Robin shouted as they entered the tower

"I do not like fire" Starfire simply commented

"Star_fire _doesn't like fire? Talk about irony" Beastboy said

"Shut up, dude" Cyborg said

"Starfire, you could have HELPED at least," Robin shouted

Starfire spun on her heels and walked upstairs.

"Go talk to her. NOW" Raven said to Robin, glaring at him icily

_**RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**_

Starfire opened the clasp on her silver armband and stared at the burn mark that lay beneath. It was a big blob shape, really, though Ryan had once commented that it strongly looked like a heart. Blackfire argued that it was a simple, pointless blob, one of the few things Starfire agreed with her about.

"Starfire, may I come in?" a voice asked form behind her locked door. It was Robin.

"Sure, I do not see why not" Starfire replied icily, snapping her armband back into place

Robin came in and sat on the chair that faced Starfire's computer.

"We've seen plenty of fire before and it never affected you. Wanna talk about it?" Robin asked

"No, not really" Starfire said

"Well, I do"

No response.

"Something happen in a fire?"

Silence.

"Why don't you want to talk about it?"

"The same reason, Robin, that I do not wish to look at it. It has to do with something I hope you never have to understand"

After that, there was silence.

"You know what Starfire, you're impossible" Robin commented, leaving the room…

**To be continued….**

**Reviewing: The act of giving the author of a story feedback, preferably a story written by a nice authoress under the pen name of thejedistarfiregrayson **


	7. VI: Heart Scars and Scarred hearts

Hello,

Yes, I do know that I have been very lazy about updating lately. For those of you who have read my member profile you will note my explanation for that, being that my family's computer is so slow it is almost impossible for me to write and that I am getting a new one soon. So, for the time being thank you for your patience. Updates will be slow from me for a while but just stick with me, and in the mean time here is an extra LONG chapter, just for you guys! So thank you all for reviewing and sticking with me, and here is the new chapter….

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans; I however own the worst computer in the world. Would the creators of Teen Titans perhaps trade with me?

_**The Pendant**_

_**Chapter VI: scarred hearts**_

"_Alright Richard, it's past your bedtime" Bruce said to the 7-year-old boy_

"_Tell me a scary story first!" Richard exclaimed, jumping on his bed_

"_Alright. Once upon a time…"_

"_How long ago is once upon a time in this story?" Richard interrupted_

"_When I was around 25"_

"_How long ago was that?"_

_Bruce sighed "A very long time ago. All right so a long time ago there was this mean man and he was a psychiatrist. Every one thought he was a nice man, though, until everyone found out that he was making all the criminals in the city insane by testing a harmful chemical on them"_

"_What did the Chemical do?" Richard asked as he went under the covers_

"_It made people fear things. Scary thing became extra scary. And soon, the mean man rigged something so a whole part of the city was filled with this bad chemical. The whole city was in fear and…"_

"_No no! I don't want to hear any more! This sounds scary!" Richard shrieked_

_Bruce chuckled "Alright Richard, good night"_

"_Night Bruce" Richard replied, shutting his eyes as his care taker turned the light off and exited the room…_

_**RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**_

Robin woke up as rays of morning light cast through his window. It was dawn, even earlier than the Boy Wonder usually woke up.

Every morning he slipped on his uniform, than his pendant, then his mask. He had his uniform on, and he reached for the pendant. It wasn't on his nightstand. He looked in the closet, the drawers, his utility belt, and even in the Japanese lantern that hung over his bed. No such luck.

Robin ran down the hall and knocked on Starfire's bedroom door. No answer. He then remembered that Starfire went to the roof every morning at dawn, and ran to the roof as fast as he could.

"Where is it?" Robin demanded as he stood behind Starfire on the roof

"Where is what, Robin?" Starfire asked, her gaze not leaving the rising sun.

"You know what! My pendant! Where'd you put it?" Robin demanded

"Robin, I have not seen your pendant since I gave it to you after I found it," Starfire answered, turning around "Therefore, I do not know why you blame me for it's disappearance and…. Robin?"

"What?" Robin asked, "What are you looking at?"

Starfire giggled "your eyes are beautiful, Robin"

Robin gasped. He had forgotten to put his mask on. His bright blue eyes were showing in public for the first time in about 3 years.

"You saw nothing, got that?" Robin asked, grasping her arm

"Let go of me Robin" Starfire demanded, staring out at the water

"Got it?"

"Let go of me"

"What's wrong with you lately?" Robin asked, releasing her arm

"I believe Robin, the correct question would be, what is wrong with you lately?" Starfire replied, leaving the roof

**RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**

"Hey we're out of Tofu Fruity's! Who was supposed to go shopping?" Beastboy exclaimed, tossing out the empty box

"You were. And besides, no one else eats that stuff so you have to remember to get more" Raven replied, peering over her book

"Yeah BB, we ain't your mother!" Cyborg said, eating his meat cereal

Starfire giggled over their silly fight "Who wants a Zorka berry omelet?" Starfire asked, "They are most delicious!"

"I'll pass" Raven said

"Same" Cyborg said, mouth full

"Do they have any disgusting meat in them?" Beastboy asked

"No, they do not contain any of the meat" Starfire answered

"I'll take some!" Beastboy said, gobbling up the alien delicacy

Starfire beamed "Do you like it?"

Beastboy nodded "this stuff is awesome! Got more?"

Starfire clapped happily "Oh yes! I have abundant amounts! Please, take!" Starfire said, handing him the frying pan.

Beastboy quickly shoveled the rest into his mouth "This is better than tofu fruity's!"

"Oh joyous! After Silky mutated from eating the Zorka berries I was afraid my abundant stock would go to waste!"

"You mean, these were the berries that caused Silky to explode?"

"Yes…why?"

"Um…heh…no reason" Beastboy said, turning more green than usual

And then, he came. Every one expected Starfire to do her usual morning routine. Her usual '_Greetings Best Friend Robin! Did you sleep well?'_

Instead, when Robin came through the door to the main room the smile was erased off of Starfire's face and she tuned around and made one of those 'hmph' noises that she made when she was mad. Usually, at Robin.

Stunned by the silence, Beastboy jumped to end it.

"Hey Rob, try some of Starfire's alien berry omelets! They rock, dude!" Beastboy exclaimed

Robin pulled out his whole-grain-fiber-o's "No thanks"

Beastboy shrugged "More for me!"

About half an hour later the Titans sat in the main room still, going about their business. Beastboy and Cyborg were rattling on about the newest video game. Robin was filling out a crossword puzzle. Raven was teaching Starfire how to knit.

"So I may not use the bubblegum pink yarn?" Starfire asked

"Not while I'm teaching you" Raven grumbled

"How do you even know how to knit, Rae?" Beastboy asked, peeling his eyes off the game box for a moment. Raven glared and handed Starfire a pile of Jet Black yarn.

"Now, you take the knitting needles…"

"May I use a pink pair of knitting needles?" Star asked, pulling out a pair of bubblegum pink needles

Raven shook her head "Nothing pink will touch me or I will shove your mustard collection down the trash compactor"

"But Raven! I am oh so very fond of my-"

Starfire was stopped mid sentence by the sound of the blaring alarm. In a split second the video game was forgotten, the crossword puzzle strewn aside, and a pair of bubblegum pink knitting needles fell haplessly to the floor.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

Robin was mad. Very, very mad. Very mad at very many things. He was mad at the pothole in the road that had almost tossed him off his motorcycle, mad at the rain for screwing with his motorcycles new paintjob, mad at Silky for eating the straps of his helmet, and mad at Starfire, for whatever reason he had been mad at her, he couldn't quite place it right now. But most of all, he was mad at whatever villain had decided to mess with the Titans today, because he had picked a very bad location to stir trouble: the circus.

Robin hated the circus.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

The circus tent was on fire. Families cowered in fear.

The ninja was busy stealing things. The kidnapped ringmaster didn't know why.

There was nothing to steal. There was a balance beam and a clown car. There was a trampoline and a safety net. There _was _a cash box, but there couldn't have been more than 200 dollars inside. Not enough to ram sack the whole place. The only thing not on fire was the acrobat's swings and such. It was kind of ironic.

Last time there was a disaster at this circus the acrobats had been the first to go.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

Starfire was the first to arrive at the scene because she had flown. Raven was not far behind.

It was a fire again. Biting her lip she flew in. It was tremendously hot, everything was on fire. A group of preschoolers shouted from the highest seats. Starfire flew to them, scooped half of them up, and flew them outside. Raven, who had just arrived, flew in and brought the rest.

Beastboy arrived next.

"Dude, a fire AGAIN?" he shouted, finding the nearest fire hydrant and turning into elephant form.

Cyborg arrived soon after, tearing open entranceways so hoards of people could get out of the blazing arena.

Robin was last, his motorcycle dripping from all the rain, a scrape on his chin from a near fall. Without thinking he ran in.

The blood. The fire. The chaos.

His brain thrust him into a hoard of repressed memories. Flames blazed around him, on him. And he didn't move a muscle.

"Robin, move!" Starfire shouted as a beam started to collapse.

Of course, Robin did not hear her.

Flying as fast as possible Starfire pushed Robin away from the beam. Robin's left sleeve tore on a piece of wood jutting from the ground and a flame caught his bare skin. He bit his lip and ignored the pain.

Something caught his eye and he tore away from where he and Starfire had landed. A little boy with dark black hair and piercing blue eyes stood in the middle of the flames, huddled over his parents. They were only injured however the boy wailed his eyes out. Robin grabbed the boy and his parents. Ignoring that he could barely do so he ran and plopped the family outside of the burning chaos area.

"Wow! Thanks for saving me, mister!" The boy exclaimed

Robin smiled and ran back, silently wishing that someone had once done the same for him.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 

Supposedly there had been a ninja causing all the havoc. Cyborg said the ninja's plan had bit him in the back, and that the ninja was barely grasping on for life at the nearby hospital.

Robin didn't really care.

He sat in the medical ward of Titans tower, staring into space.

Starfire came into the room, first aid kit in hand. When it came to patching up scars, Starfire was the best. Robin remained silent as she dabbed some blood off of his head.

"This'll sting a little," She said quietly as she sprayed an anti bacterial formula on the large cut on his head

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" He yelled, grasping his forehead

"I did tell you it would sting a little," She said, suppressing a giggle

"A LITLLE? My head is burning!" Robin exclaimed

Starfire continued to treat various cuts on his head and legs. After a few minutes, she broke the silence

"Robin, what happened back there?"

Robin stared at a speck in the wall "I don't like circuses"

"And I don't like fire, but I do believe I am not yelling at you"

"You don't understand"

"I believe the correct term would be 'try me,'" Starfire said, dabbing a cut that ran up his knee

Silence.

"My parents were the best acrobats in town and then one night this crazy guy came and shot up the whole circus. My parents tried to stop him" Robin gulped "They died that night"

"I do understand" Starfire said, placing a bandage on his knee

"No, Starfire, you don't"

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really"

Starfire stared at a similar speck in the wall "the whole palace of Tameran was on fire. My parents were trying to save me, my brother, my sister, and the rest of the Tamerainiens. They died that night"

It was silent for a good ten minutes. Starfire was wiping some blood off a scar on his upper left arm. When the blood was away, she could see that the scar had a shape. She gasped, and unlatched her silver arm band

"Look Robin, our scars look exactly the same," Starfire said putting her arm beside his

"Wow, identical scars that look like blobs" Robin said with a smile

Starfire giggled, "My brother says my scar looks like a heart"

Robin looked. They did both look like hearts. Identical hearts.

"Uhm, that's really stupid" He said, lying

Starfire looked at their scars. Now that she thought about it, they did look like hearts "Uhm…yes. He is only 8. He has a very large imagination. It is very… stupid indeed"

To be continued… 

**A poem:**

**I love reviews**

**Yes I do**

**I love reviews**

**How about you?**


	8. VII:Deadly distractions

Helllo there! Thank you for all the reviews, here is the new chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Wow, who would've guessed that!

_**The Pendant**_

**_Chapter 7: Distractions_**

As the sunlight of early morning fell on his face, Beastboy quickly sprang up slipped his uniform on. Whistling to himself, he grabbed his Ipod and his keys to the utility closet. It was his day to vacuum, and having been lax on his chores before and considering Robin's incessant bad mood, he decided to stay on his leader's good side. He walked down the hall and unlocked the door, and pulled out the shiny vacuum.

"Don't know why Cy can't do this" Beastboy said to himself as he heaved the Vacuum to the nearest power outlet, "The guy has a vacuum in his arm."

Beastboy plugged the cord into the wall and grabbed his green Ipod from his pocket. He flipped on a Beastie Boys song, placed the device back in his pocket, and started to vacuum the increasingly messy hallway.

"You gotta fight, uh huh, for your right…to part-ay" Beastboy sang along, pretending the vacuum was a guitar. Being increasingly busy doing a bad Beastie Boys imitation, Beastboy wasn't patricianly paying any attention to what he was vacuuming. The vacuum stopped for a second, trying to vacuum up a large metal object that was on the floor. It sucked it in with a loud bang, one that Beastboy would've heard if the volume wasn't at maximum.

Not noticing a thing he finished the song and the vacuuming by yanking the vacuum's plug out of the socket, grabbing the shiny thing, and pretending to slam out a huge guitar solo.

Satisfied with his work Beastboy walked back to the closet and threw the vacuum in. The song on his Ipod switched and his face scrunched in confusion.

"Hillary Duff? How the heck did this get on my play list... Grr, darn Raven, always putting stuff I hate on my Ipod to make me mad…"

And without a single thought of emptying out the vacuum to see if he had vacuumed up something he shouldn't have he ventured back to his room.

_**RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**_

"So, is it here?"

The man looked at his identically clothed comrade "From what I've heard"

The other man chuckled "Man, Gotham is the most important city, the strongest, the oldest, and they could barely take the stuff. But this city? Yeah it's big, but they have a bunch of kids protecting them. I mean, c'mon"

"Yeah, that's what Raz said" The man looked over his shoulder "It's in that car I bet"

The black car pulled up next to the men. 2 more identically clothed comrades emerged. The only difference was that they had a red belt around their waists. That meant they were higher level ninja on Raz's scale.

"You two, make a diversion while we set this off" One of the higher-ranked commanded

Jack shook his head. He wasn't so good at disguise and what not. That's why he didn't have one of those red belts around his black ninja suit.

"With what?"

The taller higher-ranked shook his head "You're a grown man, use your head" he said, as the two higher-ranked moved the device into the warehouse behind them.

_**RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**_

"Cereal and soy milk, uh huh. Cereal and soy milk, oh yeah" Beastboy sang as he poured brown-colored soy milk into his off-color Veggie O's.

"Uhm, eww" Cyborg said, shoveling bacon into his mouth

Raven looked up from her book, "You pour syrup on your _bacon._ If I were you, I wouldn't be talking."

Beastboy and Cyborg stared at each other, then shrugged and went back to shoveling high fat content breakfast food into their mouths.

Starfire looked up from her Zorka berry concoction and giggled. For the first time in days she wasn't in a completely dreadful mood. After last night she could feel like one of the many barriers between her and Robin had been torn down. They had reached a slight understanding. Though from what she gathered, she and Robin were still not really friends anymore. There were still about 50 more walls to tear down before that would happen. She glanced over at Robin who was searching through the refrigerator for something edible and frowned. It was very sad that she couldn't even stand to look at the boy who had once been her closest, best friend anymore.

"Don't we have _anything _edible in this house anymore?" Robin complained

Raven looked up from her book "why do you think I don't eat breakfast?"

The alarm went off, and for the first time in weeks it didn't have anything to do with a fire.

**RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**

Jack swiftly stepped up to the front door of Jump City National Bank, reminding himself that he wasn't going against ninja code, that he was just creating a diversion. He didn't even look like a Ninja at the moment. The two higher-ranked had managed to gather up a pair of black sweat pants, a red T-shirt, and a ski mask to cover his face.

Jack gulped and broke the glass door of the bank, whipped out his gun, and held it out.

"Alright everyone, cash please and no one'll get hurt" Jack said, hoping he sounded convincing.

The Bankers and the customers all froze is shock. Jack made his move, slowly walking over to the counter, gun still held out in front of him. He pointed the tip of the gun at a young lady who worked at the bank.

"Put the money on the counter" Jack commanded.

Now was his move. As the lady put a wad of cash on the counter, Jack reached for it and pretended his hand slipped, pressing the button that would send an alert out to Titans tower. Alarms sounded around the store, and red laser beams surrounded the vaults and counters. Carefully tripping every laser, he headed to the door.

"Alright, everyone out, no one wants to get hurt" Jack said as the crowd of workers and customers ran out.

That was faze one. Now all he had to do was wait. As he started to turn around a fist hit his head and he knocked into the counter, forcing his to topple back words.

He flipped over the counter and kicked the leader in the stomach, causing him to topple back. He whipped around before he hit the ground, and kicked Jack in the shins.

"Gonna hafta do better than that" Robin said, holding his legendary expandable bow-staff at Jack's neck.

Jack smiled. A Bow-staff, now that was a weapon he knew how to use. He almost felt bad as he punched the boy as hard as possible into a mettle wall. Jack grabbed the staff and watched as the unconscious leader of the Titans slid to the floor.

Almost instantly he was hit by a furry or Green laser bolts. Starfire's starbolts. He was only able to deflect and dodge a few. The rest stung and burned him, ate away at the staff, and melted part of the ski mask, the hot plastic dripping down his face. If that wasn't enough, he was slammed into a wall by a gigantic green gorilla and swung around by a dark energy force. Still, he got up and kicked Raven and Beastboy into a wall. Soon enough Cyborg slammed the ninja into a wall. He had three head wounds and hot plastic scarring his face. In a normal mission he could've beat them all with a few punches. This time, he let them win. After all, the mission was far from beating the Titans. The mission was to distract them, and from what he heard from the ear piece in his ear his mission had been a success. The room went dark as he laughed quietly to himself.

**_RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR_**

Robin stood up and shook himself awake. He had only been out for a few minutes.

"You okay, man?" Cyborg asked as he helped Robin to his feet

Robin nodded "That guy was tough. Much too tough to be your average bank robber. He was trained in martial arts, that's for sure"

After the police came and Robin told them what happened the team walked outside.

Beastboy inhaled deeply "Ahh, I love a fresh summer day"

Starfire nodded happily "Yes! The air smells like flowers and dew drops!"

A few instants later there was a spraying sound echoing all over. Some sort of gas filled the air in every corner of Jump city.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Beastboy screamed, running around and waving his arms frantically

Cyborg held out his arm, and a reading appeared on the screen "Fear inducing gas. We better get back to the tower now, and try to hold your breath"

Starfire grabbed Robin and Cyborg and she, Raven, and Beastboy took off into the air, zooming back to the tower. On arrival Cyborg quickly opened and locked the doors, windows, and every crevice.

The all exhaled.

"How could someone administer a gas that quickly throughout the city?" Cyborg said, shaking his head as each Titan gathered around the Town Situation monitor.

"Because," Robin said "That bank robber? He wasn't there for the money, or the jewels, or the attention. He was a distraction"

_**To be continued…**_

_**I have come to terms with the fact that I will probably never own Teen Titans. I would like to own some reviews though (hint hint)**_


	9. VIII: Helpless

Hello there, thank you for the reviews! Here's the new chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans but I do own a copy of the Teen Titans video game! I'm stuck on level two so if anyone knows how to beat it email me and…..I'll give you a virtual piece of candy!

**Chapter 8: Helpless**

The league of shadows knew when a city needed to be eliminated. The black plague? Guess who brought the rats.

They had only failed once, their greatest failure, Gotham city. Now they had a new target. Jump city.

Just like last time they had dumped gallons of fear inducing poison into the water supply. This time, instead of stealing a microwave emitter from Wayne Enterprises, they had someone make it of them: a small super genius boy, named Gizmo. And so, using one of their lowest ranked soldiers as a distraction they placed the emitter right next to the main water supply of East Jump City.

East Jump City was the dingy, poor part of town. From there they would carry the emitter to the top of Titans tower, which happened to be above the water pipe for the whole city.

Ingenious plan, really.

_**RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**_

Robert was a 6 year old boy. His family was very poor. He had 5 brothers, and his mother had to work 3 jobs just to support them all. Most of his brothers, however, were teenagers, and none of them paid any attention to Robert. Every day his brothers would get in shouting matches, and his mother, when she was home, would get into a shouting match with her latest boyfriend. Sometimes it would get so loud in the little apartment that Robert sat outside on the balcony and dangled his legs over the place where Plasamus had melted their railing a while back.

As Robert sat there, sitting and dreaming, the air filled with some kind of….chemical. He breathed in and coughed.

"Mom!" He shouted, pounding on the door back into the apartment. She wasn't listening.

Suddenly, everything around him looked deathly scary. The plant looked like a huge monster with glowing eyes, and so did the melted railing.

He could hear other people's screams too. Their household items must have been monsters in disguise as well.

Using all his might he jumped onto the fire escape and crawled up. By mistake he looked down, and everything looked like a giant sea of monsters and creatures. One grabbed onto his leg.

"Let me go!" He shouted. His hand slipped from the fire escape and he fell and landed back on his balcony.

_**RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**_

Robin clicked a button, and a map of the city appeared on screen. Red alert sign popped up from the East side. He shook his head.

"All the people there are helpless"

_**RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**_

Professor Finson was the most prestigious, respected man of science in the whole Jump City area, and one of the top 5 in the country for that matter. He had seen fear inducing chemicals before. In fact he had done one of his final reports in college on them, and had gotten an A. Plus. He always thought that it was the stupidest report topic in the world, but now it had a use. He stirred chemicals and poured them into a giant flask over a burner.

"Now I just heat it to 650 degrees Celsius…"

The concoction bubbled and ever so carefully he took the flask with a pair of heat reducing gloves on his hands and poured the liquid into a flask with a cooling liquid.

He smiled. The first batch was done. He put a lid on the flask and ran to the garage of the science center, where he remembered he hadn't driven to work that day.

His friend Mitchell caught his eye "Mitch!"

"Yes John?" Mitch said turning around.

"Do you have your car hear today?"

"I do" He said, fiddling with the keys in his pocket

"Good" and with that professor Finson punched his friend hard into a wall, stole the keys, and drove to perhaps was the only safe place left in the city:

Titans Tower

**To be continued….**

**Reviews:**

**R is for review quick!**

**E is elementary my dear reviewer**

**V is for Vandetta, a movie with Natalie Portman which has nothing to do with this poem!**

**I is for I love reviews!**

**E is for Elated, reviews would make me very elated**

**W is for Woot! This poem is over now go review!**


	10. IX: The Beginning of the End

Hello, everyone! Thanks for the reviews, and sorry for the wait on this. Without further ado, here is the latest chapter…

Disclaimer: Guess who doesn't own Teen Titans? Yes, that would be me….

On with the show….

_**The Pendant**_

**_Chapter IX: The Beginning of the end_**

Professor Finson ran up to the front door of Titans tower and pounded as hard as he could on the door. A moment later it was opened by the leader, Robin.

"Who are you?" Asked Robin, obviously busy trying to stop the utter chaos that was happening.

"Ah, where are my manners. My name is John Finson, and I'm a professor of science. But that's not the point. I have contracted an antidote to the gas that is being used to terrorize the city. With one shot of this you can go in and fight and solve and whatever you kids do for 2 hours, or treat someone who has already inhaled dangerous amounts of the toxin." Professor Finson said, holding out the flask.

Robin's expression changed to an almost smile "Come on in"

The Titans and professor Finson sat in the main room a few moments later.

"I have enough for all of you to take on shot of it. I understand you have a lot of technical equipment here?" Professor Finson asked.

Cyborg nodded "Oh, do we ever! We got high-tech computers, and watches, and science equipment, and microscopes and-"

Professor Finson was one of Cyborg's heroes- just recently he had invented a device to make cars go 3 times faster then their normal speed.

"Well, you get the point," Cyborg continued "If me and you worked together I'm sure we could mass produce a whole ton of this stuff in about an hour."

Finson nodded "Excellent. Let's get to work, shall we?"

Cyborg led Finson downstairs to the Tower's laboratory while Robin brought up a map of the city on the screen.

"Raven, you and Beastboy will take the East side of the city. Star, you and me will stay here and stop anything else from happening," Robin said

Starfire took her head "Perhaps I should go with Raven and Beastboy should stay-"

"No time for our differences," Robin interrupted "You'll stay here with me."

Starfire nodded. Differences. Such a weird word to describe the rift that was between them. In truth, there was no word to describe the rift. You can't describe a rift when you don't even remember what started it in the first place.

_**RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**_

They stood on the roof of Titans tower. Robin patrolled the city with his pair of high-powered binoculars.

"Anything?" Starfire asked.

Robin shook his head "Seems to be fine here. We should be fine. For now"

Starfire nodded as she stared out on the city. The east side was burning. You could hear the people scream. She wanted to get up, to go help. But that wasn't her assignment. Her job was to wait for danger here, with Robin. Robin, her ex-best friend.

Breaking the silence, Starfire asked "What was it about?"

Robin put down binoculars "What was what about, Starfire?"

"Our….fight. What started it?" Starfire asked, sitting on the ledge of the roof and dangling her feet over the edge.

"It was…" Robin started to answer, figuring there was one, "….I really don't remember."

Starfire sighed and frowned. It was cold and she started to shiver. Without thinking he did what he used to do when the two sat up here, on the roof, back when they were friends: He took his cape off and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Think we'll ever be the same?" Robin asked, sitting next to her.

Starfire hugged the cape to her shoulders tighter "that is a question I do not know the answer to. I was never mad at you, Robin. You were mad at me and in turn I became exceedingly frustrated with you. So I am not sure because I have always…" She drifted off, her gaze pulled away from Robin and towards the skyline of the city. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Always what, Starfire?"

Starfire looked back at him. She opened her mouth to answer when suddenly a blast ricocheted off the side of the Tower. Both Robin and Starfire were blasted on their backs. Robin quickly stood up and helped Starfire to her feet. He sprang and moved to grab his binoculars. As he reached for them a black shadow hurled itself over the ledge of the roof and punched Robin square in the face.

"Robin!" Starfire shouted as she readied Starbolts on her hands and moved into attack position. The black-clad shadowy figure turned to face her. A Ninja. She fired rapid Starbolts at him. The Ninja dodged almost all of them, but her last one hit him and knocked him off his feet. Starfire then swung at him and punched him hard. Limply, he stood up in a weak defensive stance. He threw a weak punch at Starfire, which she easily blocked. With a sweeping kick she knocked him down. The Ninja fell back and tripped to the ledge, falling off of the roof. She looked away and a second later she heard a splash as the Ninja hit the bay below.

Starfire ran over to Robin, who was just coming back to full consciousness.

"He gone?" Robin asked as he wiped some blood away from his bleeding nose. Starfire nodded and helped him to his feet.

There was a strange sound in the distance, and suddenly the whole city erupted in screams. The gas. They had begun to circulate it throughout the city. It was only moments before it would reach the tower.

If that wasn't enough, 10 black shadows appeared on the roof. They had climbed up the building. They were more Ninjas.

Poisonous fear gas pending, and ninjas standing with bo-staffs ready and in stall-defense position, Robin knew that this might be his last chance to do what had always needed to be done, what he had always wanted to do: He grabbed Starfire by the neck, and kissed her.

In that moment the world of Chaos sank away and their own personal world was built, one where all fights were forgotten. They had never fought, they were best friends again, and they were in what they had always been but afraid to admit it: love.

They broke the kiss and he said "If we die, I just want you to know that I love you"

"Yes and what I was going to say before, best friend Robin? It was going to be that I have always loved you Robin, I love you too" Starfire said, readying her Starbolts.

Robin smiled "Good, 'cause now if I die, at least I'll die a happy man."

And the battle began….

_**To Be Continued….**_


End file.
